


To Wish Upon a Sparrow

by Uprisist



Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bird/Human Hybrids, Birds, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Short & Sweet, So y'all are fine, Zach takes his shirt off, but nothing else
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:53:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24247594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uprisist/pseuds/Uprisist
Summary: Zach just woke up after a long night of dealing with the overbearing mother hen that is Dr. Recht, and all he wants is to spend some quality time with his boyfriend Sparrow.
Relationships: RED Scout/RED Sniper, Scout/Sniper (Team Fortress 2), Zach/Sparrow
Kudos: 6





	To Wish Upon a Sparrow

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Zach blearily opened his eyes, then quickly shut them, a feathered arm covering his face. It was entirely too bright in the lab this morning. Why Recht kept the lights this bright, Zach had no idea. He wouldn’t put it past the doc to have them as a subtle torture decive, though.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

Slowly, Zach sat up, removed his IV drip, and took off his heart rate monitor. 

_Beeeeeeee- chrrk._

Finally. Sweet silence. Now Zach was free to do whatever he wanted, which was, obviously, get the hell away from here. Sadly he had to check in with Recht before he left, but that was fine. Recht wasn’t terrible. Just… overbearing. 

A quick preening later, and Zach was putting on his clothes for the day. Recht wouldn’t let him leave without looking ‘decent’... even though it was terribly uncomfortable to wear clothes over feathers. It wasn’t like Recht would understand that, but even though Zach’s said _multiple times_ that his feathers were getting ruffled, he still refused to let him go clothes-less. 

Whatever. He could always take them off out of sight. 

There was a knock on the door, and without any prompting Recht himself walked in, all smiles. “Hallo zhere!” Recht greeted, “How are jou feeling zhis morning?” “Same as always, Doc. I don’t know why ya keep askin’, da answer’s gonna be da same.” Zach responded, arms crossed. Just because Recht was giving him free food didn’t mean he had to be nice to the other man. 

“Jou know I’m just concerned vith jour vell-being.” Recht’s tone was soft, considerate. Zach didn’t buy it one bit. 

“Dat’s what you always say.” Zach bit, impatient. He wanted to leave _now_ , but he had to go through this song and dance first. “Can I go now?” “Of course! Here’s jour vater bottle.” Recht handed him his modified bottle, filled with sugar water. “Have a nice day!”

Finally. Now he could go spend time with the only person that actually cared for him.

Zach waved a half-hearted farewell to the doc and left out the backdoors. Once he was outside, he let out a little, relieved sigh and spread his wings to their fullest. They fluttered a bit, and then he was up in the air, flying over to his only friend’s campsite. It was a short flight, but a long walk - the campsite was a bit removed from the rest of the base, but that was okay with Zach. 

Less people meant less time being gawked at, after all. 

Soon enough, Zach was landing in the clearing where the campsite was. It was a very homey place, surprisingly, since it was mostly assorted objects made out of bones. But, well. That was homey, in a weird way. It was hard to explain. Singer, that giant mother hen of a vulture, was outside feasting on some bones. She squawked him a greeting, to which Zach returned with his own little tweet. 

He disliked his birdvoice (it wasn’t manly _at all_ for his liking), but that was fine. It got the job done, for the most part.

The door opened soon after, and the man of the hour stepped through, a small smile on his face. Sparrow. Zach’s only friend in this cruel world, and also his boyfriend. 

“ ‘allo Zach! Good mornin’!” Sparrow called out, walking over to him. 

“Hey Sparrow!” Zach met him halfway, and they hugged in greeting. Zach’s wings wrapped around the other for a little before they separated, but they still held each other’s hand, smiling at one another. 

There was a small pause as they both took each other in, happy to be together after being away for so long. Sparrow spoke up then, his voice small, not wanting to break the nice silence they were in. “How ya doing, mate? Haven’t seen ya in a while.” “Oh, you know.” Zach looked away, a small frown on his face as he rubbed his arm. Sparrow frowned. “Roight. Let’s get that top off, make ya a bit comfortable.” Zach smiled, and allowed Sparrow to help him take his shirt off and around his wings. This was a familiar routine to him, coming to Sparrow and getting comfy and preened. Sparrow cared a lot about his feathers, and always made sure they looked beautiful. 

God… Zach remembered when Sparrow first said that he looked beautiful. He remembered blushing hard, his face red as a tomato. And, the preening itself… it was so _intimate_ , and the socially-dense Sparrow didn’t realize it. What else would you expect from someone who hung around birds all the time? 

It wasn’t long until Sparrow had taken his shirt off and guided him inside the camper van in order to preen him properly. Zach sat on the bed, sitting carefully so his tail feathers didn’t rumfle further and keeping his wings tucked close, while Sparrow was seated behind him, special comb in hand. Then he started to meticulously clean and arrange each individual feather. It was a long process, but Sparrow always insisted on doing it. Zach grew to enjoy it, in time.

While Sparrow was doing that, Zach was able to fully relax after the long night with Recht. It wasn’t that Recht was a bad man, not at all. Well, for the most part. He _was_ the one to make him half-hummingbird. And a blue one, at that. Even though he was RED. Okay, maybe he was immoral, but Recht _seemed_ to have good intentions. He was also extremely overbearing, always concerned with Zach’s health. Which was, well. Not fun. At all. 

But he digressed. Sparrow was entirely too good for little old Zach. He pampered him, made him feel special, cherished him. Zach couldn’t say the same for literally anyone else, except his ma… though he hadn’t told her about his ‘condition’ yet. So, Sparrow was the only person that both knew what he was now and still loved him regardless. It was a nice feeling.

Time passed. Zach spent it basking in the refreshing presence that was Sparrow, as the other tended to his delicate, soft feathers. And, sooner than Zach would have liked, he was eventually done, giving him a small kiss. Zach lightly returned it, turning around carefully in order to face Sparrow better. 

They both laid back on the bed, snuggling close, gentle smiles on their faces. Zach wrapped one of his wings around Sparrow, and Sparrow in turn nuzzled into Zach. 

Safe. Comfortable. As it always was whenever he was with Sparrow. Zach didn’t want this to ever change; he didn’t want Sparrow to leave his side. He wanted to be with Sparrow until the end of time and beyond. No one else made him feel as loved as this man did. 

And, for once in his life, Zach was truly happy.


End file.
